IB History of the Americas
Instructor: Chris Gagnier
Blog Address:
Text:The American Pageant: Bailey, Kennedy and Cohen.
Reading – You will read an all-inclusive textbook in order to gain the basic facts and knowledge necessary to proceed with other activities and readings. In addition, you will read primary source documents and other selected readings in history.
Discussion/Lecture – You will be asked to participate in this activity in two important ways. From time to time, you will present material to the class. Also, you should always be prepared to take an active role in discussion.
Tests – Three types of exams will be utilized to help you prepare to become an critically thinking young scholar: Objective (multiple choice) exams will be administered periodically (about every week to ten days). Document-Based Essay Questions (DBQ’s) and free response exams will be written (approx. 2 per month).
Written Work –As stated above, document analysis and writing will be a consistent component of class. In addition to formal essays, you will be asked to write routinely as checks of comprehension of reading assignments.
Quizzes- Reading assignments will generally be given for each class. There will generally be a quiz for each of the reading assignments. Please see the reading schedule that accompanies this syllabus.
Tutoring- I am available Monday through Friday beginning at 7:30 AM
Grading- Tests =35% (F) 30% (S) ;Quizzes= 20% ; Papers= 20% ; HW/CW= 15% (F) 10% (S) ; Final Exam= 10% (F) ; EOC= 20% (S)
Retakes- Please retake any test you would like to improve upon within 2 weeks of receiving your score, new grade will replace the old.
Late Work- 50% off when late, it can only be turned in until the next unit exam.
IB Course Topics:
8: United States’ Civil War: Causes, course and effects (1840–1877)
This section focuses on the United States’ Civil War between the North and the South (1861–1865), whichis often perceived as the great watershed in the history of the United States. It transformed the countryforever, but the war created a new set of problems: how would the country be reunited? How would theSouth rebuild its society and economy? How would the four million freed former slaves fit into society?
•Slavery: cotton economy and slavery; conditions of enslavement; adaptation and resistance;abolitionist debate—ideological, legal, religious and economic arguments for and against slavery, andtheir impact
•Origins of the Civil War: the Nullification Crisis; states’ rights; sectionalism; slavery; political issues;economic differences between the North and South
•Reasons for, and effects of, westward expansion and the sectional debates; the crises of the 1850s;compromise of 1850; political developments, including the Lincoln–Douglas debates and thepresidential election of 1860
•Union versus Confederate: strengths and weaknesses; economic resources; role and significance ofleaders during the Civil War; role of Lincoln; significant military battles/campaigns
•Factors affecting the outcome of the Civil War; the role of foreign relations; the EmancipationProclamation (1863) and participation of African Americans in the Civil War
•Reconstruction: presidential and congressional plans; methods of southern resistance; economic,social and political successes and failures
•African Americans in the New South: legal issues; the black codes; Jim Crow laws
13: The Second World War and the Americas (1933–1945)
As the world order deteriorated in the late 1930s, resulting in the outbreak of war in Europe and Asia, thecountries of the region reacted in different ways to the challenges presented. This section focuses on thechanging policies of the countries in the region as a result of growing political and diplomatic tensions priorto, and during, the Second World War. It also examines the impact of the war upon the Americas.
•Hemispheric reactions to the events in Europe and Asia: inter-American diplomacy; cooperation andneutrality; Franklin D Roosevelt’s Good Neighbour policy—its application and effects
•Involvement and participation of any two countries of the Americas in the Second World War
•Social impact of the Second World War; impact on women and minorities; conscription
•Treatment of Japanese Americans, Japanese Latin Americans and Japanese Canadians
•Reasons for, and significance of, US use of atomic weapons against Japan
•Economic and diplomatic effects of the Second World War in any two countries of the Americas
16: The Cold War and the Americas (1945–1981)
This section focuses on the development and impact of the Cold War on the region. Most of the secondhalf of the 20th century was dominated by the global conflict of the Cold War. Within the Americas, somecountries were closely allied to the United States and some took sides reluctantly. Many remained neutralor sought to avoid involvement in Cold War struggles. A few, influenced by the Cuban Revolution, institutedsocialist governments. No nation, however, escaped the pressures of the Cold War, which had a significantimpact on the domestic and foreign policies of the countries of the region.
•Truman: containment and its implications for the Americas; the rise of McCarthyism and its effects ondomestic and foreign policies of the United States; social and cultural impact of the Cold War
•Korean War, the United States and the Americas: reasons for participation; military developments;diplomatic and political outcomes
•Eisenhower and Dulles: New Look and its application; characteristics and reasons for the policy;repercussions for the region
•United States’ involvement in Vietnam: the reasons for, and nature of, the involvement at differentstages; domestic effects and the end of the war; Canadian non-support of the war; Latin Americanprotest against the war
•United States’ foreign policies from Kennedy to Carter: the characteristics of, and reasons for, policies;implications for the region: Kennedy’s Alliance for Progress; Nixon’s covert operations and Chile;Carter’s quest for human rights and the Panama Canal Treaty (1977)
•Cold War in either Canada or one Latin American country: reasons for foreign anddomestic policiesand their implementation
17: Civil rights and social movements in the Americas post‑1945
This section examines the origins, nature, challenges and achievements of civil rights and social movementsafter 1945. Causes of some of these movements may be pre-1945. These movements represented theattempts to achieve equality for groups that were not recognized or accepted as full members of society,and they challenged established authority and attitudes.
•Indigenous peoples and civil rights in the Americas
•African Americans and the civil rights movement: origins, tactics and organizations; the US SupremeCourt and legal challenges to segregation in education; ending of segregation in the south(1955–1980)
•Role of Dr Martin Luther King Jr in the civil rights movement; the rise of radical African Americanactivism (1965–1968): Black Panthers; Black Power and Malcolm X; role of governments in civil rightsmovements in the Americas
•Feminist movements in the Americas; reasons for emergence; impact and significance
•Hispanic American movement in the United States; Cesar Chavez; immigration reform
•Youth culture and protests of the 1960s and 1970s: characteristics and manifestation of a counterculture
18: The Americas (1980–2005)
This section focuses on changing trends in foreign and domestic policies in the Americas. In the latterdecades of the 20th century, the region experienced significant political, social, cultural and economicchanges. The section also considers the transitions to democracy in Latin America and the challengesencountered.
•The United States: domestic policies of presidents Reagan, GHW Bush and Clinton; challenges; effectson the United States; impact upon the hemisphere; continuities and changes in US foreign policy:Reagan, GHW Bush and Clinton; from bipolar to unilateral power; impact on the region
•Canadian domestic policies: Mulroney governments (1984–1993), collapse of the ProgressiveConservative Party; Chrétien in power (1993–2003), Quebec and separatism
•Transition to democracy in two countries of Latin America: reasons for democratization; role of internaland external factors
•Post-transition challenges in two countries of Latin America: economic challenges and debt; justiceand reconciliation; political parties and the role of the military
•Violent and non-violent movements in two countries of Latin America: causes, aims and impact; roleof religion, including liberation theology
•Economic and political cooperation in the Americas: reasons for and impact
•Terrorism; 9/11 and response: domestic impact